The WordPress/JetPack writing prompt for today is:
If you had to give one life-changing tip, what would it be?

This one’s easy: Live abroad

Living abroad (not tourism, which is heavily sanitized) will truly open your mind to what the world is, what makes us different, and what makes us all the same (more than you think).

I know this answer has some real gatekeeping attached to it: You have to be able to afford it, you have to qualify for a passport, and where you’re from impacts where you can go, a lot.*

So let’s break this all down. It may turn out to be not as much of a barrier as you’d expect.

Affordability:

Traveling to foreign countries is expensive unless you live within the EU, then it’s a day trip on a train.

Guess what, if you can find employment abroad, the employer pays for your airfare (and takes care of the visa). This was how I taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in South Korea, South Africa, and Malaysia. These jobs pay well. South Korean employers even pay for your accommodation, so you can earn and save.

I paid to teach ESL in Spain, but that was so I could acquire a professional qualification, and I chose those expenses (and paid for them by teaching in Korea). I also taught English in Namibia as a volunteer. I paid my way for that.

Obviously you have to be careful of which countries you apply to, and for which kinds of jobs. Where you’re from will make a big impact on what kinds of jobs you’ll be considered for.

But even then, you might be surprised. One of my employers, in South Africa, loved hiring teachers from Zimbabwe and Ghana because their education systems are so good. In Namibia, teachers educated in Zimbabwe were in high demand. My South Korean ESL employer would hire teachers from India as well as the more typical “western” countries.

Qualifying for a passport/employment:

Who qualifies for a passport may vary from country to country, but generally I think they’re universally accessible.But, and this can be a big ‘but’, you can’t qualify for a work visa in many countries if you have a criminal record. And of course various types of employers will have their own standards that they need to meet to apply for your visa (Teaching English usually means needing an undergrad degree in any field, taught at an English-speaking school)

Limitations based on your origin:

For many jobs, especially ones you’d actually want, coming from a western nation is going to give you a leg up. In my current country, there are two types of foreign visas, roughly skilled (which they call Expat) and unskilled (which they call Foreign Worker). Skilled visas seem to be reserved for Education and Petroleum jobs and are generally filled by westerners.

Unskilled are much more plentiful and based in manual labour – factories, construction, security, housekeeping. These visas tend to go to people from poorer neighboring countries.

These two visas are not equal. It’s much easier to apply for a marriage license (to a citizen) or apply for permanent residency when you entered on an expat visa.

Conclusion:

I’ve got to say, living abroad exposed me to my privilege, to better understand colonialism and racism. It opened my eyes in a way that staying in Canada never could have.

So maybe this advice works best for people who come from a more affluent country and not so much for people from developing countries. But you know what? People like me are the ones who need to experience how different life is for most of the world. It’s our media that defines so much of popular culture that people in other places already have their own culture and exposure to (a glorified version of) our culture.

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*Caveat: I understand that I’m writing this from a position of privilege. I’m white. I’m male. I’m from Canada, and thus have access to a good education, a good reputation, and a strong passport. I can’t change any of that. I can only share my experiences from within that context.